permaculture

["Marshall" <eco@gaianlife.co.uk>]

I can only assume that the sea level rise figures they quote are global
average figures for the decade. It varies hugely at different sites and the
range they have suggested just doesnt cover that geographical variation.
I am part of the (now completed) US Environmental Protection Agency research
project ACE InC (Atlantic Coast Environmental Indicators Consortium) and at
some of our sites (depending on tidal range), we were seeing figures up to
15cm/decade from sea level guage data from 1980. It was an annual variation
of up to 30cm which masked this enough for government/industry to ignore it
up until now. A couple of brief graphs of that are here
www.gaianlife.co.uk/environmental_indicators.htm

Not that I am contradicting their figures, rather I meant that the sea is
already and has been for some time rising significantly. If we reach some
kind of threshold point in the near future, it could well tip that way past
their figures (not unlikely considering feedback from ice melts and thermal
expansion events). At some places the actual sea level may only rise a few
cm....at others we may have to start measuring that in metres.

www.aceinc.org, www.gaianlife.co.uk/reports.htm